First things first…
If you’re someone that believes a quality timepiece needs to come from Switzerland and cost thousands of dollars, you’re probably not a regular reader of this blog anyway. Additionally, if you have an issue with what some call “homage watches,” you can stop reading now.
Breaking news – homage watches have been around as long as…well, watches. And one of, if not the most ‘homaged’ watch is the Rolex Submariner. It’s easy to see why. Classic good looks, slowly refined over the years, combined with superb functionality and unimpeachable street cred. Or ocean cred. Whatever. It’s a proven winner, a design icon. Why mess with success? Its demand is such that you can’t even buy a new one at retail.
Naturally, that kind of box office has spawned a horde of imitators, some more successful than others. Discounting the outright (and highly illegal) counterfeits, most watch manufacturers have produced a dive watch at least influenced by, if not an outright doppelganger of the Submariner. Some are, let’s just say, nicer than others.
Not to disparage anyone’s taste, but sometimes less is more (I’m talking to you, Invicta Pro Diver, and your inescapable branding on every available surface). So although there are countless options to sift through in your search for the ultimate budget Sub homage, I’ve found surprisingly few that didn’t feature some deal-breaking fatal flaw. Giant logos engraved on the side of the case are just one example. Sometimes it’s a derpy cyclops over the date window. Too much bling. Poor quality control. Colors that aren’t quite right. Questionable specs (including comical water resistance…on a dive watch, no less!). Hell, I can be put off by something as small as the wrong font. Come at me, Comic Sans.
Once you’ve sorted the winners from the losers in the specs and aesthetics departments, you come to the other consideration: price. Used to be, if you wanted a serious dive watch for not a lot of scratch, you bought a Seiko, a Citizen, or another Japanese import, at prices ranging from $200-ish to several hundred dollars. More recently, microbrands have popped up, with some really great designs, typically manufactured in China using Japanese movements, at price points of around $300 and up into 4 figures.
But is it possible to go even lower? Has someone truly “cut out the middleman?” Enter the rise of “factory brands,” i.e., watch brands sold directly by the same company that actually builds them. Most of these brands are the OEM suppliers of the aforementioned microbrands, so one could argue that maybe they shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds. But that’s a discussion for another time.
Suffice it to say that there are now a plethora of brand names out there (some more successful than others, if we’re being honest…what the hell does Rdunae even mean? It sounds like an extremely foul Gaelic term of derision.), and many of these brands are marketing what seem to be the same watches, made in the same factories, with slight cosmetic differences. A cursory search will pop up homages of vintage Seiko divers, Rolex Subs, classic Omegas, and others. I’ll save you some time: most of the specs are the same. 200 meters water resistance, sapphire crystal, and a Seiko NH36 movement. And all that at prices that start just under $100 bucks. So now the challenge becomes finding one that looks like more than $100 bucks, so to speak.
Enter Steeldive, one of the less silly brand names (with one of the better logos) I discovered on my journey into the wonders of vertically integrated watch companies. I first heard about them a year or two ago (not sure where), but the brand recently pinged my radar via the YouTube home of bargain ballers everywhere, Just One More Watch, as part of a roundup of entry-level divers. Once on the Steeldives.com website, I was first drawn to the green of their Hulk Sub homage, but I decided against it based on the bling of the polished bracelet center links and the cyclops date window. I was looking for something that wasn’t afraid to get its (watch) hands dirty.
And I found it in this variant, the SD1954, with a decidedly more vintage-styled dial. While featuring the case dimensions of a modern Submariner, the flat black dial is a quasi-tribute to the legendary ‘Comex’ Subs, with the word ‘Marine’ substituted. The printed dial plots are also a throwback to the days before the much ritzier applied polished indices were standard for Rolex. The dial markings and hands also have the faintest cream color to them, a subtle nod to age, without going overboard in the fauxtina department. Additionally, the SD1954 scored big points with me for not having a date window…I love a no-date Sub. And could it be? The entire bracelet is brush-finished, eschewing the glitzy look of modern subs for the tool watch vibes of old. You’re throwing some real heat, Steeldive.
Continuing to rack up points in the plus column: Seiko NH35 automatic movement, sapphire crystal, blue Swiss BGW9 lume, with a lumed ceramic bezel. Additionally, the water resistance is now 300 meters, up from 200 in a previous version. All this at $94 with coupon. Unreal.
Any weak points?
I found very minor finishing flaws, but nothing you’ll notice without a loupe. Nothing that bothered me, anyway.
The lume is slightly less bright on the handset than it is on the rest of the dial.
The polished ceramic bezel would fit the vintage look of the watch better in a flat matte black finish, in my opinion, but the shiny ‘black chrome’ look is still attractive.
I’d say the branded stamped clasp is the most obvious cost-cutting measure. It works well enough, but it doesn’t feel like it belongs on the watch. Happily, a more substantial milled clasp is not too hard to find…AliExpress has them for under $10 dollars.
All told, the Steeldive is a mindbendingly good deal, minor nits aside, and with a replacement clasp, this thing is an absolute beast of a great-looking, hardwearing beater watch, and I’m confident you’ll be proud to have it on your wrist.
Here’s the tale of the tape, in handy list form:
CASE DIAMETER – 41mm, excluding crown
LUG TO LUG – 48mm
LUG WIDTH – 20mm
CASE THICKNESS – 13.5mm
MOVEMENT – Seiko NH35
CRYSTAL – Anti-reflective sapphire crystal
CASE – 316L Stainless steel, with screwdown caseback and crown
WATER RESISTANCE – 300 meters,
RETAIL PRICE – $199 USD, typically $99 ‘on sale’
More info at https://www.steeldives.com/
D.C. Hannay is a writer, commercial producer, voiceover artist, musician, and advertising copywriter from New York, writing professionally for over 20 years. He’s been fascinated with watches his whole life, beginning with his father’s 1970 Breitling Navitimer, and will always have a soft spot for anything Casio.
https://www.instagram.com/dchannay/
